Deadline: 9-Jan-23
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New Delhi is launching an open call for project applications within its delegated Human Rights Fund.
Human rights are the cornerstone of human dignity, freedom and the development of free societies. The Human Rights Fund is a tool of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Its purpose is to support activities by civil society organisations around the world, to encourage them to actively engage in the promotion and protection of human rights.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is inviting civil society organisations working in India to submit project proposals focusing on, on one hand, enhancing their capacity to work with the Indian local and/or central government towards the implementation of public policies intended to effectively defend human right, and, on the other hand, on strengthening the promotion of human rights in India. The embassy is looking for strategic partners with whom they can cooperate in the longer term, hence they look with extra interest at the growth potential and absorption capacity of the activity and organisation.
Focus Areas
Contributions can be made to local organizations aimed at strengthening and implementing their projects in the following priority areas:
- Equal rights for women and girls
- Freedom of Religion and Belief
- Freedom of Expression
- Equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI+)
Thematic Areas
- The project applications must be in line with at least one of the Dutch government’s human rights policy priorities, but the embassy in New Delhi is looking with extra interest at the intersectionality of gender, religion and sexual orientation. The focus of the human rights fund is on the following theme’s:
- equal rights for women and girls – with a focus on decreasing the occurrence of all forms of gender based violence against women and girls in public and private life
- freedom of expression and internet freedom – with a focus on increased access to information, enhancing safety of (female) journalists worldwide and press freedom.
- freedom of religion or belief – with a focus on decreasing FoRB-based persecution and discrimination and inclusivity and tolerance in religious and faith based communities, and capacity building for effectieve protection of religious minorities through judicial processes.
- equal rights for LGBTI+ people – with a focus on decreasing violence, discrimination and criminalization on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and increasing level of social acceptance of LGTBI+ people.
Funding Information
- Grants requested from the Human Rights Fund should fall within the range €25,000 to €250,000.
- The time frame of the projects must be of 1-3 yrs.
Eligibility Criteria
With limited funds available, clear criteria have been developed to ensure a transparent and efficient application process. Organizations applying for funding (‘applicants’) have to comply with all of the following criteria:
- The project must be aimed at one of the abovementioned priority areas and include an element of strengthening the implementation capacity of human rights policies of Indian local and/or central government is a required component.
- The project must include a clear strategy to address institutional, political and/or legal obstacles impeding the enjoyment of constitutionally-guaranteed human rights, with a view to adopting concrete policy measures to address these issues.
- The applicant should be a local organization working in the state of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (incl. Delhi NCR), Odisha.
- The applicant must fulfil all legal obligations under Indian law, including but not limited to the new regulations under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). Funding is only available for applicants with a valid FCRA license.
- Applications can only be submitted in English via e-mail by filling up the Application Form SSSP 2023 provided below. Applications which do not adhere to the word limit will not be considered.
- Applications must include a budget proposal with a clear breakdown of budget allocation per activity. Applications without a budget proposal will not be considered.
- Applications must explicitly mention the purpose, activities, expected goals and results of their project.
Ineligible
Projects that are not eligible for funding under the SSSP are the following:
- Humanitarian aid;
- Activities that are primarily motivated by a commercial interest;
- Projects with a predominantly academic focus, i.e. feasibility studies, research, etc.
- Projects that exclusively or largely include the delivery of goods or materials;
- Infrastructural or construction projects;
- Bursaries.
For more information, visit Embassy of the Netherlands in New Delhi.